Fourth-ranked City's Nick Faust wasted little time setting the tone Friday night against league rival No. 12 Douglass, delivering a thunderous dunk off the game's opening tip.
Faust later hit a 3-pointer while falling backward and soared high above the rim to finish an alley-oop from Mike Cheatham. Faust scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half and City never trailed in the 66-30 victory in front of an overflow crowd at Douglass. City, the two-time defending Class 2A state champions, has continued to bounce back after some tough early losses to some of the top teams in the metro area, including top-ranked St. Frances.
"After some tough losses, I think we really got it together," said the Maryland-bound Faust. "I think we're not going to lose the rest of the season. In practice, coach has been telling us in the games we lost, we did not play very good defense. We came out and played great D today."
Cheatham, a Division I prospect, also scored 16 points and Lionel Green added 11 for City. Dwayne Brewer led Douglass with 14 points.
The Knights (5-3 overall, 1-1 league) blew open a close game in the second quarter when a layup by Eric Greer capped an 11-2 run. Faust got his second 3-pointer of the half in the closing seconds and the Knights led 35-19 at the break. Douglass had trouble finding open shots against City's tight man-to-man defense.
"I've been stressing defense," City coach Mike Daniel said. "We had a great week of practice."
City continued to run away in the second half. A 3-pointer by Green extended the lead to 49-19 midway through the third quarter. Douglass (7-1, 1-1 league) simply did not have the depth to cut into the margin.
"We just played as a team and kept swinging the ball," Cheatham said. "Practice was good for us. We went out there and learned to play as a team more. We came together as one."
— Todd Karpovich
No. 2 Patterson 86, Mervo 35: Aquille Carr scored 24 points and a combination full-court press and fast-break offense jump-started a 30-9 first quarter run for the host Clippers (9-0).
Patterson led 55-26 at the half.
No. 3 Mount St. Joseph 61, McDonogh 58: The visiting Eagles (11-5) led the entire game before the Gaels (13-4) won in overtime.
In the first half, Mount St. Joseph shot less than 40 percent from the field and McDonogh led 29-26 at intermission. In the second half, McDonogh led by as much as 10, but David Windsor made a layup with 10 seconds left to knot the score at 51-51 and force overtime. Kameron Williams had a game-high 30 points for the Gaels and Kayel Locke finished with 28 for McDonogh.
No. 8 Dunbar 71, Carver 36: The visiting Poets (9-0) used a full-court press to limit the Bears to eight points in the second half. Dunbar's Iakeem Alston led all scorers with 21 points.
No. 9 Oakland Mills 72, Long Reach 42: Greg Whittington had 15 points to power the host Scorpions 12-0) past the Lightning (0-12).
No. 10 Lake Clifton 64, Institute of Business 19: Aaron Parks scored 15 points and Trae Summers had a double-double (14 points, 14 rebounds) for the host Lakers (7-1).
No. 15 Owings Mills 63, Loch Raven 44: Carjahn Jenkins scored 22 points to power the host Eagles (9-0) past the Raiders.
Annapolis Area Christian School 68, Gilman 56: Conner Lipinski scored 19 points to lead the host Eagles (10-5) past the Greyhounds.
Calvert Hall 44, Loyola 41: Jordan Floyd had a game-high 13 points in a losing effort for the visiting Dons (6-10). The Cardinals (9-9) led for most of the game and Loyola's 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed. Julian Davis finished with 12 for Calvert Hall.
Girls
No. 2 Seton Keough 57, St. Frances 42: The Panthers bid to upset a second-ranked team this week fell short. Achiri Ade, who will play at James Madison, had a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) to power the host Gators (12-4).
No. 4 McDonogh 64, No. 8 Roland Park 47: Tiersa Winder scored 16 points to lead the visiting Eagles (10-4) past the Reds (8-5).
Beth Kelly had a game-high 24 points for Roland Park.
No. 10 Woodlawn 51, Perry Hall 37: Shadequa Longus had 16 points to lead the host Warriors (8-2) past the Gators.